Metropolis is impressing U.S. decorative painters with its combination of European technology with the American way of painting.

Metropolis Brings the Best of Europe to the U.S.

When European technology meets American ingenuity, remarkable things can happen. By remarkable, we mean “edgy,” “innovative,” “chic,” “sophisticated,” “breathtaking” and a thousand other adjectives that can be used to describe the myriad of effects that artists can create when using Metropolis® Paints for Lifestyle by Ivas.

Metropolis is the decorative paints and resin division of Ivas SpA, a company founded more than a half-century ago in Italy.

Over the past several decades, Ivas has developed an enviable international reputation for producing high-quality paints, varnishes, technical mortars, decorative plasters and other fine products. Metropolis emerged as a line of eco-friendly water-based and solvent-free products that epitomize the highest standard of Italian interior decoration.

Senso is a sophisticated metallic suede in the Metropolis line.

With that reputation preceding it, Metropolis came to American shores three years ago. Almost immediately, artists could tell that this product line was something special.

“Metropolis is the best that Europe has to offer, now available here in the United States,” says Ed Mattingly, director of sales and marketing for Ivas USA Inc. “What we’re doing is taking European/Italian technology and combining it with the American way of painting. We’re not just saying, ‘Here’s a European product and the European way of using it.’ We’re modifying the product to fit how painters paint in the United States.”

With Metropolis, painters are able to create a vast diversity of styles and effects. “Certainly you can use Metropolis to create Old World finishes, but you can also use it to create extremely contemporary urban effects as well,” Mattingly says.

A Diverse Product Line

Currently available in more than 20 countries throughout the world, the Metropolis line includes more than 65 distinctive decorative paints and plasters, including:

Additionally, the line features a full complement of primers, waxes, varnishes and more than two dozen tools in the Metropolis line-up, including stainless steel trowels, decorative rollers, glazing brushes, sponges and spatulas.

One of the collections in the Metropolis brand is called Urban Effects, which is created by combining some of the brand’s decorative plasters and using the brand’s special decorative tools. Thus, you can create something raw and edgy, like Bronx or Harlem Effects, or something upscale and sophisticated, like the Manhattan Effect. And lest it be mistaken that such contemporary finishes are entirely a U.S. phenomenon, Urban Effects also includes such industrial looks as the Berlin and Istanbul Effects and even a glammy finish called the Jakarta Effect.

Roll-Out in the U.S. Market

As a characteristic of adapting the brand to the U.S. paint industry, Metropolis can be combined with Benjamin Moore colorants.

Mattingly is establishing distribution of the brand by traveling to several Benjamin Moore paint stores throughout the country, including Flanagan’s in St. Louis, Guiry’s in Denver, Hirshfield’s in Minneapolis and Rosing Paint Center in Atlanta. He has conducted training sessions at several of these locations, which not only serves to familiarize store employees with the products but also shows the brand’s versatility to decorative artists and painting contractors.

“Probably the biggest thing we’re doing is building up our local distribution with local artists supporting it,” Mattingly says. “We’re creating a network of artists and dealers and connecting all of them.”

Decorative artist studios such as Faux Time Design and Valley Paint in New Jersey are also stocking the line. “We also have a showroom in Beverly Hills selling high-end luxury products,” Mattingly reports.

Ed Mattingly demos Senso in the above YouTube video.

Mattingly has been extremely impressed with the creativity of decorative artists in using the Metropolis line. “It’s been mind-blowing,” he says. “All of the products are compatible, and artists are layering them and combining them in ways we had not even anticipated.”

To learn more about the Metropolis line of products, visit the website at www.metropolis-ivas.us. Or email Mattingly at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..